New University of Mass. Test Benefits Sickle Cell Anemia Patients

Black Issues in Higher Education, Dec 23, 1999

JACKSON, Miss. -- A study conducted by University of Mississippi Medical Center radiologists can better identify the risk of stroke in children who suffer from sickle cell disease.

The new ultrasound test gives doctors a color picture of a child's blood vessels and, in turn, makes it easier to diagnose the threat of a stroke.

The work by UMC radiologists Abe Malouf Jr., Jennifer H. Turner, Michael C. Doherty, Rathi Iyer and Mary G. Smith found that a new Doppler ultrasound allows doctors a closer look at sickle cell patients' arteries and better evaluate their chances of having a stroke.

Malouf, who presented his findings at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago early this month, said the study improved sickle cell detection research begun in Georgia.

The study used more powerful equipment that is easier to operate and provides a dynamic color picture of blood flow. Malouf says the equipment is being used at more hospitals around the country.

"Because so many centers have the equipment, it opens up the number of places that can do the test," Malouf says.

Sickle cell disease affects primarily Blacks and Hispanics in the United States and the southern hemisphere, and can be fatal, according to Radiological Society statistics.

About 10 percent of children with the disease suffer a narrowing in one or more arteries of the head and are at risk of developing a cerebral stroke if they're not treated, the society says.